Ladies and gentlemen, the 2020 Royal Rumble is soon at hand! This Sunday, we’ll be treated to one of the greatest traditions in all of professional wrestling! 30 men and 30 women in their respective matches, all vying for a shot at the top title in their division at WrestleMania! And as a bit of a rare bonus this year, we’ve even got the WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar involved!
This is part of a mini series in which I’ll be looking at ten favorites to win both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches! Gauging their chances, looking at their past year, and delving into what their story would be if they won. (ie. What it would mean for WrestleMania.) I’ve hand picked nine men and nine women, but you can vote on the last two subjects of these previews right here! Voting closes at midnight tonight, so get on it! And I’ll get on with this preview!
Brock Lesnar – Relevant Stats
- WWE Debut: 2002
- First Rumble appearance: 2003
- He won the 2003 Rumble match.
- This will be his fourth Rumble appearance.
- He has amassed eleven total eliminations.
- He is a five time WWE Champion and three time WWE Universal Champion.
- Current betting odds: +500
How 2019 Went For Brock Lesnar:
…Well, this shouldn’t take long, eh?
He came into the year as WWE Universal Champion. Lesnar retained against Finn Balor in a really good match, in which Finn decided that Brock damn Lesnar wasn’t worth bringing out the Demon for… Rumble winner Seth Rollins then beat Lesnar for the title at Mania in two minutes and thirty seconds to open the show. Brock then appeared out of nowhere at Money In The Bank, running in at the last second to grab the briefcase. This brought on several instances of false advertising where they repeatedly promised cash-ins that didn’t happen. Lesnar later cashed in on Rollins at Extreme Rules, so that he could promptly lose the Universal title right back to him at SummerSlam.
The WWE Draft brought Brock to SmackDown, where he immediately beat Kofi Kingston for the WWE title in seven seconds and then immediately began a brief feud with Cain Velasquez, which immediately ended in a quick match at Saudi Arabia. This then immediately transitioned to a feud with Rey Mysterio, whom Brock moved right back to Raw – one could say immediately – to feud with. He retained the title against Rey at Survivor Series in probably the best match of the night.
Aaaaaand there you go, you’re up to speed.
Where does that leave his chances?
In spite of currently being WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar is indeed entering the Royal Rumble. I really thought he’d be putting his title on the line too but that never came to pass. It’s a shame, I had this fun scenario in my head that’d make this work out really nicely… though, the first part of it can very much come to pass.
I really do think we’re about to see a huge bit of hubris on display. Heyman’s spoilers might finally be proven fallible this Sunday, and in a big way at that. They were so arrogant and certain of victory that they willingly decided Lesnar would enter the match first and throw absolutely everyone out to win the whole damn thing. And so I’ve been thinking it’d be so funny and so apt if the #2 entrant just up and tossed Lesnar before the buzzer even sounded for the third entry.
Keep in mind that when Lesnar loses, it’s usually like this. Goldberg stunned him in a match that was so short, I managed to turn it into a gif:
I also turned it into a meme video. This idea was very trendy in 2017.
And, again, Rollins beat him in two and a half minutes. They love these shock flash losses for Lesnar. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, that scenario is way more likely than Brock legitimately competing for an hour. The guy turns purple after five minutes in the ring.
None of this is to say him winning is impossible, however.
It’d just be done in a kind of gimmicky way. They’d have to do a bit where early on he gets pulled from the ring and put through a table or whatever. And then like forty minutes later, he rushes back in to finish the match and win. Usually this is played up as a valiant thing but I’m sure in this case they’d just use it as a means to call Lesnar lazy.
What would his story be?
There’s really only one way this could go if Lesnar won this match. And that’s Beast vs. Fiend, title for title. A match in which, as always, many would incorrectly assume it’s a unification bout. And WWE would describe it much too ambiguously for anyone to be certain. But it won’t be, it’d just be a match with both titles on the line. And I mean, they did do this in the main event last year. So why not this year?
It’d certainly be a match with a lot of intrigue behind it. In concept, it’s very fun. In practice… it will almost certainly be the shortest WrestleMania main event of all time. But it could still be really enjoyable anyway. The result would likely see the Fiend get the win and take Lesnar’s place as the top sporadically seen monster champion.
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